Founding Engineer

FORT; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

FORT is seeking two founding engineers for a backend-heavy full-stack role in New York City. You’ll work directly with the CTO to own architecture, infra, and product development from idea to launch.

You’ll build primarily with Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, TypeScript, Next.js and React, shaping the platform as the company scales toward Series A. Expect strong ownership and meaningful impact from day one.

Qualifications

• 6–12+ years of software engineering experience, backend or full-stack focus.
• Experience building production software as an individual contributor.
• Experience in early-stage startups or 0→1 product development.
• Strong backend fundamentals, including relational databases and API design.
• Proficiency with Python and/or TypeScript.
• Autonomous mindset with ownership and proactive problem solving.
• Product thinking and business/customer problem understanding.
• Comfort operating in a fast-changing environment with large ownership.
• Willingness to work 4 days/week from Tribeca office in NYC.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship products end-to-end, focusing on backend APIs, services, and data pipelines.
• Launch and scale the auto insurance product as beta ends.
• Integrate new products into the platform as the business grows.
• Make architecture and infra decisions for scalability, reliability, and long-term design.
• Develop internal tooling for non-engineering teams.
• Design APIs and relational data models as the platform expands.
• Contribute across stack using TS, Next.js, and React where needed.
• Leverage AI-assisted tools to accelerate development.
• Collaborate with the CTO to translate customer problems into scalable solutions.
• Help establish engineering standards and culture for next growth phase.

Skills

Python

TypeScript

FastAPI

PostgreSQL

API design

React

Next.js

DevOps

AI-assisted coding tools

Tools

AI-assisted coding tools

Job description

We're working with a fast-growing, seed-stage fintech startup using AI to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing US homeowners: rapidly rising insurance costs.

Founded in 2023, the company has raised $7.5M, operates across all 50 states, and is already working with thousands of insurance distributors. Revenue is growing rapidly as the business prepares for its next stage of growth and an upcoming Series A.

They're now looking for two Founding Engineers to join the core engineering team and work directly alongside the CTO.

The Why? (A Couple of Highlights)

• Join at a genuine inflection point – Come in pre-Series A, with strong early traction, rapidly growing revenue, and the opportunity to have a meaningful impact on how the company and engineering organisation develop.


• Build products from 0→1 – You'll own new products and features end-to-end, including helping take a new auto insurance product out of beta and expanding the platform into new areas.


• Real technical ownership – As one of the earliest engineers, you'll have significant influence over architecture, infrastructure, scalability, engineering practices, and the technology roadmap.


• AI at the core of the product – The company builds insurance prediction models using data from tens of millions of US insurance policy renewals, helping give homeowners greater predictability over future insurance costs.

The Role

This is a backend-heavy full-stack engineering role, roughly 70% backend / 30% frontend, within a small and highly technical founding team.

You’ll work closely with the CTO to build and launch products, evolve the platform architecture, and solve the engineering challenges that come with moving from seed stage toward Series A and beyond.

This isn't a narrowly defined engineering position.

We're looking for someone who enjoys taking a problem from an initial idea through architecture, implementation, deployment, and iteration — and who is comfortable making decisions without waiting for detailed instructions.

You’ll be building primarily across Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, TypeScript, Next.js and React, while also helping shape infrastructure and engineering practices as the team scales.

What You'll Be Doing

• Building and shipping new products and features end-to-end, with a particular focus on backend APIs, services, and data pipelines.


• Helping launch and scale the company's auto insurance product as it moves out of beta.


• Integrating entirely new products into the existing platform as the business expands beyond its initial offering.


• Making important architecture and infrastructure decisions around scalability, DevOps, reliability, and long-term system design.


• Building internal tooling that allows non-engineering teams to solve problems independently and reduces operational engineering work.


• Designing and evolving APIs and relational data models as the platform grows.


• Working across the stack when needed, including building product experiences using TypeScript, Next.js and React.


• Using AI-assisted development tools to accelerate engineering and ship quickly across the stack.


• Working directly with the CTO and broader team to turn customer and business problems into scalable technical solutions.


• Helping establish the engineering standards and culture of a company building toward its next major stage of growth.

What We're Looking For

• 6–12+ years of software engineering experience, primarily within backend or full-stack product engineering.


• building and shipping production software as an individual contributor.


• early-stage startup and/or building meaningful 0→1 products inside a larger technology company.


• Strong backend fundamentals, including experience with relational databases and API design.


• Proficiency with Python and/or TypeScript.


• A highly autonomous engineering mindset — someone who identifies problems, takes ownership, and gets things done without needing significant structure around them.


• Strong product thinking and an interest in understanding the business and customer problem behind what you're building.


• Comfortable operating in an environment where priorities can move quickly and engineers have significant ownership.


• Able to work 4 days per week from the company's Tribeca office in New York City.

Ideally, You'll Also Have

• Experience building B2B2C products.


• Significant experience using AI-assisted coding tools as part of your development workflow.


• Experience within fintech, insurance, or other regulated industries.


• Genuine interest in the intersection of AI, financial services, insurance, and consumer products.


• Experience helping an engineering organisation scale through a period of rapid company growth.

You don't need to have worked with every technology in the stack, but you should be comfortable moving across backend systems and product engineering.